“ Boy crisis” existence in the U.S. has become a public policy debate topic, and it continues to gather attention and journalists, scholars, and policymakers have identified it as the cause for many concern. In this context, many factors have contributed to this boy crisis that continues to negatively impact American boys. These include the changing education system which seems to favor girls in pursuant of social justice at the detriment of boys; the family; mental health and suicide; and even arrests and delinquency. Even though some scholars have refuted the existence of the boy crisis in America citing it as an anti-feminist agenda, research findings and various literature reveals that indeed this problem exists and it negatively affects American boys. Therefore, this paper focuses on discussing the above-mentioned factors which contribute to boy crisis in the U.S. The first part will explain how these factors contribute to this crisis while the second section will address some possible solution to this problem.
Factors contributing to the boy crisis in America
The changing system of education has been recognized as one of the factors fueling the boy crisis in America. This changing education system, according to Noltemeyer, Mujic, and Mcloughlin (2012), started back in the 1990s when President Kennedy recognized the need to incorporate social justice in education as a means to provide an inclusive, fair and equitable education to all. As Noltemeyer, Mujic, and Mcloughlin (2012) explain, the social justice notion was that all groups and individuals be treated with dignity, respect, fairness and should be entitled to protections, opportunities, and resources offered in schools. At this time, the education system was seen to be favoring boys more than girls. As a result, the Equity in Education Act of 1994 was formulated along with strong feminist movement back up to focus efforts on assisting girls to succeed in schools. According to Kleinfeld (2009), this act acknowledged girls as a population that is underserved and directed funding towards the needs of girls. As such, federal foundations and agencies made the issues of girls a priority. As a result, several programs dedicated to increasing the self-esteem of girls, girls’ achievement in science and mathematics, and the interest of girls in pursuing careers in engineering, science, and mathematics. Additionally, publication spate from organizations like Women’s Educational Equity Act Publishing Center promoted the development of instructional materials of “gender fair,” and publishers of textbooks as well emphasized the lives of women and their contribution to the society.
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According to Sommers (2013), this Act which saw the idea that society and schools grind females down led to the development of many policies and laws intended to restrain the boys' advantage and to amend the harm done to girls. In this case, most people presumed the idea that girls were treated as the second and as a result suffer, while boys were conferred privileges and subsequently benefit. A belief that Sommers (2013) contends not to be true as it is not supported by any data. Sommers (2013) argues that the Act with the backup of misguided feminism has made schools more girl-friendly, thus hurting boys and leaving them to lag behind in a number of ways. As Sommers (2013) asserts “that American schools are an inhospitable, hostile environment for boys, where their natural propensities for rough and tumble play, competition, aggression, and rambunctious violence are cast as social problems in the making.”
The author further argues that boys admittedly require help in catching up with girls academically and also need respect, moral guidance, love, and discipline, but they do need to be rescued from their masculinity. This type of schooling which attempts to improve the experience of girls at the expense of boys has resulted in boys’ depression, under-achievement, and low self-esteem. Consequently, this has given rise to a number of issues including a fact review showing that boys are on the weak education gender gap side: a typical boy is a year and a half behind a typical girl in writing and reading skills; he is likely not to attend college; less committed to school; have lower grades than girls; and have been diagnosed with more attention issues and learning problems (Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation, 2012). These negative effects have been supported by data.
According to Sommers (2013), in 1997, full-time enrollments in college were 55 percent females and 45 percent males. The Education Department predicted that proportion to continue shrinking in the subsequent years. Besides, data from various university studies and the U.S. Education Department show that girls outshine boys in several academic programs. They get grades that are better, have higher aspirations for education, they follow academic programs that are more rigorous, and participate in placement classes that are advanced at higher rates. Moreover, the data reveals that girls outnumber boys in debating clubs, in honor societies, and also outperform boys in musical ability and artistic tests. Furthermore, the U.S. Education Department gauging criteria shows that boys are less engaged in schools than girls. According to Sommers (2013), this performance gap between girls and boys in high schools is directly related to the growing gap between female and male college admissions. According to the report of U.S. Education Department, in 1996 after the implementation of the Equity in Education Act, there were only 6.7 million men compared to 8.4 million women enrollment in college, and they predict the gap to continue such that by 2007, the numbers would be 6.9 million men and 9.2 million women.
Besides the issues discussed above, another negative consequence the changing education system has had on boys is the high number of drop-outs. Whitley (2017) accentuates that more boys than girls are suspended from school, while more drop out and others are held back as stated in Sommers’ article. According to Kleinfeld (2009), in 2004-2005, among all students, males who dropped out of school were 32% compared to females who were 25% during that period. Sommers (2013) associate this high drop out among boys to be the consequence of the changing education system in America (the war against boys), which tend to favor girls at the expense of boys. She states that the “traditional boyhood pursuits have been curtailed in schools, with a significant decline in activities such as physical education, sports woodwork, metalwork and break-times” (Sommers, 2013), and she argues that this has prevented boys from expanding their natural energy and letting off steam, leading to boys who are inattentive in class. Whitley (2017) asserts that these rates of drop out among boys are especially bothering given that the world today is an economy that is service-based, and long are the days when young men who are unqualified could find well-paid and honorable occupations based on manual labor and manufacturing.
Another factor which contributes to the boy crisis in America is the family (Whitley, 2017). Farrell (2018) calls it the crisis of fathering since boys are growing up in families with fathers who are less-involved and as such, experience psychological outcomes that are negative. This less involved fathering may be a result of high divorce rates in America, leading to separation and leaving boys to grow in fatherless homes. This fatherlessness raises the question of the social dangers of raising boys without paternal presence benefits and it is the main contributor of violence among boys since it mostly results to deviant behavior in boys (Sommers, 2013). According to Farrell (2018), data reveals that boys who grow up in fatherless homes or in homes where fathers are less involved in their affairs, these boys were more likely to do drugs, drink, drop out of school, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
A final concern for the boy crisis is the poor mental health among young boys. According to Kleinfeld (2009), boys suffer more behavioral and emotional problems than girls including suicide, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression and premature deaths and injuries. Sommers (2013) asserts that more boys succeed with attempted suicide than girls and data from 1997 indicate that a typical year, a total of 4,483 young individuals aged 5-24 committed suicide: 3,782 were males while 701 were females. These high rates of suicide signify profound psychological disturbance and pessimism. Also, boys are far more likely than girls to be diagnosed with ADHD. The high numbers of ADHD diagnosis according to Kleinfeld (2009) may be associated with higher teacher referral numbers which reflect low tolerance for males who are less active. Additionally, males from the age of 5-24 in 1995-205 are more likely to perish from violence and other risky behavior such as firearms, motorcycles, drowning, and motor vehicles deaths. Besides, males also predominate in arrest rates and juvenile delinquency for each offense type, and this is supported by the 2004 data, which showed that the rate of delinquency among young males was three times more compared to that of young females in America.
Alternative Solutions
To counter this boy crisis in America, there is a need to come up with solutions for change that will enable both boys and girls to thrive in society. Regarding the changing American system of education that is a major contributor to the boy crisis (negatively impacting American boys), a number of solutions have been suggested. According to Watson, Kehler, and Martino (2010), one of the solutions is to cater to natural strength and learning interests of boys in schools. This may also take the form of offering courses that are geared more toward the different learning styles of boys and girls. This may encourage boys to thrive in the areas they are interested in and may, in turn, reduce drop-out and underperformance.
Second, more male teachers should be recruited in schools to act as role models, especially in feminized subjects such as English and elementary schools, it is argued that male teachers are better equipped to maximize attention of boys and to develop certain relationships with boys to commendably boost their participation in literary practices that are school-based (Watson, Kehler & Martino, 2010). This will help reduce the idea as underachievement of boys is attributed to the failure of female teachers to accommodate the interest of boys and their learning styles under the changing education system as Sommers (2013) argue.
Third, is the idea to start single-gender schools and single-sex classes (Watson, Kehler & Martino, 2010). According to Cable and Spradlin (2008), advocates of single-sex schools and classrooms believe that it will offer many benefits to eradicate the issue of boy crisis in America. For instance, advocates of single-sex classrooms believe that classrooms that are coeducational help to reinforce stereotypes through intensification of gender as the pressure to act in ways that are gender appropriate intensifies during adolescents. Also, advocates of single-sex classes contend that teaching can be designed to fit the various needs of female and male students and this can assist both sexes to attain higher achievement levels.
These benefits were supported by a study by the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education (NASSPE) which found out that single-sex school graduates are more serious concerning academics and are more confident. Additionally, there evidence from research that single-sex classrooms have lower drug abuse risks. Therefore, these schools possibly allow more focus on academics as there is no confrontation of female-male socialization on a daily basis. To serve as a case study to demonstrate the benefit of single-sex classrooms, Cable and Spradlin (2008) use Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle as an example. Before the school was reconstituted into a dual school with separate classrooms for boys and girls, the school used to be one of the failing schools in the poorest neighborhoods. After reconstitution, the scores for students drastically changed. For instance, on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores for boys increased to 66th percentile from the 10th percentile. Also, before the change was done, no girl had passed the portion of Math of WASL; but after the separation, 53 percent of girls got passing scores. Besides, the behavior of student also improved with referrals of discipline going from 30 to less than 2 in a day (Cable & Spradlin, 2008). Therefore, single-sex classrooms and schools can act as one solution to this boy crisis in the education system by improving the performance of both girls and boys.
Other than the solutions discussed above, Watson, Kehler, and Martino (2010) argue that to improve the classroom behavior as well as academic achievement of boys in schools, there is need to draft a comprehensive program which focuses on academics and social skills. This is because boys who are low achievers or disrupt class are more like to drop out of school, and this may put them at risk of other factors such as unemployment, criminal activity, and poverty. Thus, programs which are successful at assisting boys perform better in their academics and get into less trouble while in school tend to combine various approaches including training teachers on better management techniques of their classrooms and how to teach in a corporative and interactive ways; and involving parents in activities of school and giving them parenting and communication skill among other interventions.
Regarding family concerns on boy crisis, charitable bodies like the National Parents Organization advocate for reforms in family law to ensure that boys, as well as girls, spend the time that is necessary with their fathers. These advocates have lobbied for what is called “shared parenting” which entails the 50/50 time that children spend with each parent (Whitley, 2017). This may reduce the negative effects brought by fatherless parenting. Besides, the national campaign should raise awareness and educate boys on the dangers of engaging in criminal behaviors which might bring severe repercussions to them.
Conclusion
From the discussion, it is evident that boys of America are suffering solemn problems leading to the “boy crisis”. In education, these problems centers in areas of lower grades in school, lower school engagement, lower literacy, higher school drop-outs, lower enrollment in college and post-secondary education, and disturbance of emotions and learning disabilities. Family issues like fatherless homes also contribute to this boy crisis. It is good to improve the experience of girl child education, but this should not happen at the expense of boys. Both boys and girls should be allowed to thrive in various areas including education. Therefore, the suggested solutions should be implemented or tried out by policymakers to make this happen.
References
Cable, K. E., & Spradlin, T. E. (2008). Single-sex education in the 21st century. Education Policy Brief , 6 (9), 1-12.
Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation (2012). The War on American Boys: The Feminist Assault on Males. Mindszenty Report . Retrieved November 28, 2018 from http://www.mindszenty.org/PDFs/2012/Feb2012.pdf
Farrell, W. (2018). The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It.
Kleinfeld, J. (2009). The state of American boyhood. Gender Issues , 26 (2), 113-129.
Noltemeyer, A. L., Mujic, J., & Mcloughlin, C. S. (2012). The history of inequity in education. Disproportionality in education: A guide to creating more equitable learning environments , 3-22.
Sommers, C. H. (2013). The war against boys: How misguided policies are harming our young men . Simon and Schuster.
Watson, A., Kehler, M., & Martino, W. (2010). The problem of boys' literacy underachievement: Raising some questions. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , 53 (5), 356-361.
Whitley, R. (2017). Is There Really a Boy Crisis? Psychology Today . Retrieved November 28, 2018 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-men/201706/is-there-really-boy-crisis
